Local farmers trying to protect crops from freeze

Hard freezes are testing times for many local farmers as they work to protect their crops from dying.

St. Johns County farmer Danny Johns says he spent Sunday evening covering his pototo crops with dirt to protect them from the freeze.  He also sprayed his strawberries to keep those from freezing as well.

"There's some guys who didn't cover, and it's a real close call whether or not you put dirt and bury the potatoes or not," Johns says.  "They could've gone either way, so we'll find out in a week or two what the right move was."

He says he'll spend Monday uncovering his potatoes and getting ready for the upcoming weekend, which is predicted to be warm with temperatures around the 70s.

Then after that, it's back to protecting the crops again.  The next hard freeze is predicted for March 3.

"Well this is actually what farming is," Johns says.  "There's a lot of challenges that come up during the season and all that, and this was just one of 'em, and you deal with it as they come."

Johns says it's a shame that the country takes its food for granted and the effort that goes into it.

"This is part of what we do to make sure there's food on that table," Johns says.